Intel spins out LANDesk

Intel Corp is spinning off its LANDesk desktop systems management software as an independent company, selling the products and assets to The LANDesk Acquisition Corp, a company created by venture capitalist firms Vector Capital and vSpring Capital.

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but Intel will retain a minority equity position in the company through its Intel Capital corporate venture arm. The company will be led by CEO Joe Wang, formerly vice president of Symantec Corp's enterprise administration division, while John Sutherland, former general manager of the LANDesk business for Intel, becomes the new company's vice president of operations.

Members of the current LANDesk management team are all being offered positions in the new company, which will base its operations in Salt Lake City, Utah and will employ about 150 people worldwide.

Specifically, Vector Capital and vSpring Capital are acquiring the LANDesk products, including the LANDesk Management Suite, and some intellectual property from Intel, while licensing further intellectual property. The LANDesk products include the LANDesk Management Suite systems management software, the LANDesk Client Manager desktop management suite, the LANDesk Asset Service laptop and desktop inventory tool and the Instant Support Suite remote control diagnostic software.

Also included in the deal are the discontinued LANDesk Server Manager server management software and the Mobile Manager mobile device management software. Designed for use with Microsoft Corp Windows clients, Windows CE/Pocket PC devices and PalmOS-based PDAs, the Mobile Manager product provides a key area for growth, and was recently integrated with Xcellenet Inc's Afaria mobile management tools.

The LANDesk systems management software is just part of what was once a much larger Intel systems management and anti-virus portfolio. The LANDesk Virus Protect Business was sold to Symantec Corp in September 1998 and integrated into its Norton AntiVirus suite. Over the years the LANDesk management software has been licensed to some of the biggest names in systems management software. In 1995 Intel licensed the LANDesk discovery agents and installation technologies to what is now IBM Corp's Tivoli business, while in 1998 it struck a configuration management software licensing deal with Platinum Technology International Inc, now owned by Computer Associates Inc.

The software spin-off is the second Intel has announced in the last two weeks. In August the company spun out its high-speed content processing in the form of Tarari Inc.